Children's Place lost my business

Yes, that's right, I'm no longer shopping at Children's Place.  I find it sad since Paige is most definitely still in their size range.  She wears a 5, so we could have shopped there for years.  But, I'm now boycotting.  It all started Friday.  I posted on the stores that gave me attitude when I declined to give my email address, and phone number.  One of them was Children's Place.  We were back in there Saturday to exchange too small shoes, buy water shoes for the summer, and a new pair of jammies.  Yes, I love  their sales.  The clothes are good quality, stand up to lots of wear, and the sale prices are great.  I declined to give my information on Saturday as well.

Monday, I had to make another trip there; luckily the mall is right next to my office.  The cat had chewed up a pair of flip flops and I promised Paige I would replace them.  (At a sale price of $2.50 and not being her fault, I had to replace them.)  I got the new flip flops and went to check out.  Once again I was asked for my phone and email.  Once again I declined.  This was met with a loud sigh.  I went to swipe my debit card, only to have the terminal jerked away and turned to face the cashier.  She then put in her email address.  I asked why she did that, and the answer was less than nice.  I was told they have a quota of information they must get each week and month.  That not enough people will give their information, so the cashiers have to put their information in so they can meet their quotas.  And it wasn't said in the nicest of ways either.  

I can honestly say that if I hadn't promised Paige those flip flops, I would have returned them.  I wasn't going to let her make me break a promise to my child. Thanks to the wonders of the iPhone I left the store, sat on a bench, looked up the number on line, pressed it, and called customer service.  I reported the store, the employee thanks to the code at the bottom of the receipt, and told them they lost my business.  I will say that the lady at their corporate office was very nice and apologized a lot.  She seemed genuinely appalled at what happened to me.  And she said if that was company policy it should never have been stated to me and certainly not the way it was.  She did ask me to clarify what email address was put in the terminal, and I was able to give it to her.  She said they could search the database by email address to see how often it was being used.  

It was never my intention to get anyone in trouble.  I simply wanted a pair of pink "Rock like a Princess" flip flops for my pink haired girl.  That's all.  I do realize that customer service has really dropped off recently.  But I don't think it should.  The economy may be getting a bit better, but it's still not great.  Where I spend my money should be a place that wants my business.  Obviously, Children's Place is not one of them.  That's fine.  I'll keep my money and spend it elsewhere.  I can't tell you where to shop, but I will suggest you look at your customer service. Do you decline your personal information?  Do you get attitude?  Does the cashier chew gum like a cow in your face?  You may want to consider shopping at new stores.  And if you make a decision not to shop in a certain store, I encourage you to call their customer service line and let them know.  I think the more we as consumers stand up and demand better service the better service will get.